Paper roll holder



Oct. 13, 1959 H. BOLGER PAPER ROLL HOLDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 6, 1957 I 11/ I 1/ n ill g Oct. 13, 1959 ,H. BOLGER PAPER ROLL HOLDER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 6. 1957 Eff- III III III/III! I 1 Ill/ llflll/l/l/l/lll/l/l/l/A III Ill/l Ill/II a L y I i m wh 7 M \4l 27 H zzza 25 United States Patent v PAPER ROLL HOLDER Henry Bolger, Portland, Oreg.

Application March 6, 1957, Serial No. 644,341

4 Claims. (Cl. 242-552) This invention relates to new and useful improvements in paper roll holders, particularly holders for rolls of toilet paper, and the principal object of the invention is to facilitate quick, easy and convenient positioning and replacement of a paperroll in the holder, so that such replacement may be readily etfected when a supply of paper on a roll has been exhausted.

Conventional holders usually consist of a springpressed telescopic shaft having its ends retractably fitted in recessed bearing arms, between which a roll of paper is supported on the shaft. As such, the shaft is entirely hidden within the roll and in the recesses of the 2,908,449 Patented Oct. 13, 1959 Figure 3 is a sectional view, taken substantially in the plane of the line 3-3 in Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a sectional detail, taken substantially in the plane of the line 4-4 in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary group perspective view of one of the cranks, fulcrum blocks and guide rails used in the device; a 1

Figure 6 is a fragmentary group perspective view of one of the cranks, guides and trunnions;

Figure 7 is a fragmentary sectional view similar to that shown in the left-hand portion of Figure l, but illustrat-' ing the parts in the retracted position of the trunnion;

Figure 8 is a sectional view, taken substantially in the plane of the line 8-8 in Figure 1;

Figure 9 is a fragmentary sectional detail view of the actuator lever, as viewed from the rear of Figure 8;

Figure 10 is a vertical sectional view, taken substantially in the plane of the line 10-10 in Figure 9;

Figure 11 is a fragmentary sectional detail, taken substantially in the plane of the line 11-11 in Figure 2;

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bearing arms, and considerable difliculty is commonly experienced in gaining access to the shaft for purposes of telescoping the same, so that its ends may be withdrawn from the bearing arms and the roll removed. A similar difliculty is likewise experienced in installing a new roll and consequently, the roll changing procedure is awkward and tedious.

An important feature of the instant invention, which results in the elimination of the disadvantages above outlined, involves the provision of a holder wherein the paper roll is supported by'a pair of projectable and retractable trunnions engaging opposite end portions of the roll, together with means for retracting the trunnions so that the roll may be quickly and easily installed or removed.

Another important feature of the invention resides in providing the holder with a base adapted for mounting on a wall, and hollow support arms on the base for carrying the above mentioned trunnions, together with operating mechanism in the base and hollow support arms for resiliently urging the trunnions to their projected, roll engaging position, and for manually retracting the trunnions against the resilient means, when a roll is to be installed or removed.

As such, the operating mechanism of the invention is concealed from View, but another feature of the invention resides in the provision of a conveniently accessible finger-piece at the outside of the base of the device, by the manipulation of which the trunnions may be easily retracted for purposes of roll installation or replacement.

Some of the advantages of the invention reside in its simple but durable construction, in its convenient operation, in its pleasing appearance, and in its adaptability to economical manufacture.

With the foregoing more important objects and features in view and such other objects and features as may become apparent as this specification proceeds, the invention will be understood from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like characters of reference are employed to designate like parts, and wherein:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of the invention, partly in section to reveal its construction;

Figure 2 is a front elevational view thereof;

3 tioned chamber 26.

(Figure 12 is a perspective view of one of the links used in the invention.

Referring now to the accompanying drawings in detail, the paper roll holder is designated generally by the reference numeral 20 and embodies in its construction a substantially rectangular base 21 consisting of a flanged inner plate 22 and a flanged outer plate 23. The flanges of the inner plate 22 engage a supporting surface such as a wall 24, to which the inner plate is secured by a plurality of suitable fastening elements such as the screws 25.

The flanges of the outer plate 23 engage the outer face of the inner plate 22, thereby providing a chamber 26 within the base, in which certain operating mechanism hereinafter described is disposed. The outer plate 23 is attached to the inner plate 22 by a plurality of screws 27 passed through suitable apertures in the outer plate and engaging nuts 28 secured to the inner plate by welding, or the like.

A pair of transversely spaced, hollow support arms 29 are secured to and project forwardly from the base 21, portions of the base plate 23 at the inner ends of these arms being formed with slots 30 whereby the interior of the arms is in communication with the aforemen- The arms 29 are substantially square in cross-section and the outer end portions of the arms are rounded so as to accommodate therein tubular guides or bushings 31 for a pair of projectable and retractable trunnions 32. The latter are disposed in coaxial relation and project through suitable openings in the opposing inner faces of the arms 29 so as to engage the end portions of a paper roll 33 and rotatably support the same in position between the arms 29, as indicated in Figures 1 and 2. It will be apparent from the foregoing that when the trunnions 32 are retracted into the guides 31 in the arms 29, they will be withdrawn from the end portions of the paper roll 33 and the latter will be readily 7 shown in Figures 1, 3 and 7.

' A pair of angle-shaped guide rails 38 are suitably sethe purpose of guiding each of the fulcrum plates 37 in its sliding movement, as is best shown in Figure 4.

The outer end portions of the cranks 34 pass through slots 39 provided in the tubular guides 31 and into recesses 40 formed in the trunnions 32, wherein they are secured by pivot pins 41 with which the trunnions are equipped. In this connection it will be understood that since the trunnions have a'straight line sliding movement in the guides 31 while the cranks 34 are swingable in arcs about the pins 35, the sliding action of the fulcrum blocks 37 in the arms 29 will compensate for these differences in movement so that no binding at the pivot pins 35, 41 can occur.

The inner end portions of the cranks 34 extend freely through the aforementioned slots 30 into the chamber 26 in the base 21, at which point they have pivotally connected thereto laterally angulated end portions of a pair of rod-shaped links 42, as shown at 43. The links 42 are slidable in bearing brackets 44 provided on the rear surface of the base plate 23 in a manner allowing each of the angulated end portions of the pair of links 42 to move from normal position as shown in Fig. 1 into retracted position as shown fragmentarily in Fig. 7, and the inner end portions 42a of the links are substantially flat as shown, for pivotal connection by suitable pins or rivets 45 to a control lever 46.

The lever 46 is disposed vertically in the chamber 26 and is mounted upon a fulcrum pin 47 carried by the base plate 23. The pin 47 is also supported at its rear end by a substantially Y-shaped yoke 48, the latter having its central portion spaced rearwardly from the plate 23 but also having forwardly offset end portions or feet 48a secured to the plate 23 in any suitable manner. The pivots 45 of the links 42 are disposed on the lever 46 at diametrically opposite sides of the fulcrum pin 47, so that when the lever 46 is moved in the direction of the arrow 49, the links 42 Will be drawn in the directions of the arrows 50, as shown in Figure 8.

This movement of the links 42 will cause the cranks 34 to swing about the pivot pins 35 in the directions of the arrows 51 (see Figure 1) and, as a result, the trunnions 32 will be slide from their projected position to their retracted position within the guides 31.

Means are provided for resiliently urging the trunnions to their projected position, these means comprising a pair of compression springs 52 positioned on the links 42 between the aforementioned brackets 44 and suitable shoulders or collars 53 with which the links are equipped. Thus, the springs 52 urge the links 42 in directions opposite to those shown by the arrows 50, causing the trunnions to be projected when pressure on the lever 46 in the direction of the arrow 49 is relaxed.

The base plate 23 is provided in its top flange with a slot or recess 54 through which the upper end portion of the lever 46 projects outwardly from the base and affords a finger-piece 55 whereby the lever may be conveniently manipulated. If desired, the finger-piece 55 may be formed integrally with an indicator tab 56 extending obliquely in the general direction in which the lever is to be moved in order to effect retraction of the trunnions.

In summary, it will be noted that the holder in accordance with the invention is a device of pleasing appearance wherein the operating parts, with exception of the finger-piece 55, 56 and trunnions 31 are concealed from view, and wherein the paper roll 33 may be quickly and easily installed or removed by a simple manipulation of the finger-piece to retract the trunnions which are automatically returned to their projected, roll engaging position by the resilient means 52 when manipulation of the finger-piece is discontinued. As such, the device may be easily fabricated from metal, or if preferred, plastic material may be used for the base 21 and arms 29 as well as for several of the operating parts themselves. Although the invention is primarily intended for holding rolls of toilet paper, it may obviously be used with any material in rolled form, wherever the rolls are to be easily and conveniently changed upon exhaustion of the supply of material thereon.

While in the foregoing there has been described and shown the preferred embodiment of the invention, various modifications may become apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention relates. Accordingly, it is not desired to limit the invention to this disclosure, and various modifications may be resorted to, such as may lie within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed as new is:

l. A paper roll holder comprising a hollow base adapted to be secured to a wall, a pair of transversely spaced hollow support arms projecting from said base, a pair of coaxial paper roll engaging trunnions projectably and retractably mounted in the outer end portions of said arms, a pair of double arm cranks pivotally mounted in said arms and having outer ends thereof operatively connected to said trunnions, the inner ends of said arms extending into said base, a control lever mounted intermediate its ends on a fulcrum pin in said base, one end portion of said control lever projecting outwardly from the base and constituting a finger-piece, a pair of links disposed in said base and connected at one end thereof to the inner end of the respective cranks, said links being connected at their other end to said lever at diametrically opposite sides of said fulcrum pin whereby said trunnions may be retracted by movement of said finger-piece, resilient means cooperating with said links for urging the trunnions to their projected position, bearing brackets provided in said base and having said links slidable therein, and shoulders provided on said links adjacent said brackets, said resilient-means comprising compression springs positioned on said links between said brackets and said shoulders.

2. A paper roll holder comprising a hollow base adapted to be secured to a wall, a pair of transversely spaced hollow support arms projecting from said base, a pair of coaxial paper roll engaging trunnions projectably and retractably mounted in the outer end portions of said arms, a pair of double arm cranks pivotally mounted in said arms and having outer ends thereof operatively connected to said trunnions, the inner ends of said arms extending into said base, a control lever mounted intermediate its ends on a fulcrum pin in said base, one end portion of said control lever projecting outwardly from the base and constituting a finger-piece, a pair of links disposed in said base and connected at one end thereof to the inner end of the respective cranks, said links being connected at their other end to said lever at diametrically opposite sides of said fulcrum pin whereby said trunnions may be retracted by movement of said finger-piece, resilient means cooperating with said links for urging the trunnions to their projected position, and fulcrum blocks slidable in said arms and having said cranks pivotally connected thereto.

3. A paper roll holder comprising a hollow base adapted to be secured to a wall, a pair of transversely spaced hollow support arms projecting from said base, a pair of coaxial paper roll engaging trunnions projectably and retractably mounted in the outer end portions of said arms, a pair of double arm cranks pivotally mounted in said arms and having outer ends thereof operatively connected to said trunnions, the inner ends of said arms extending into said base, a control lever mounted intermediate its ends on a fulcrum pin in said base, one end portion of said control lever projecting outwardly from the base and constituting a finger piece, a pair of links disposed in said base and connected at one end thereof to the inner end of the respective cranks, said links being connected at their other end to said lever at diametrically opposite sides of said fulcrum pin whereby said trunnions may be retracted by movement of said finger-piece, resilient means cooperating with said links for urging the trunnions to their projected position, fulcrum blocks slidable in said arms and having said cranks pivotally connected thereto, and guide rails provided in said arms for said slidable blocks.

4. A paper roll holder comprising a hollow base adapted to be secured to a Wall, a pair of transversely spaced hollow support arms projecting from said base, a pair of coaxial paper roll engaging trunnions projectably and retractably mounted in the outer end portions of said arms, a pair of double arm cranks pivotally mounted in said arms and having outer ends thereof operatively connected to said trunnions, the inner ends of said arms eX- tending into said base, a control lever mounted intermediate its ends on a fulcrum pin in said base, one end portion of said control lever projecting outwardly from the base and constituting a finger-piece, a pair of links References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 855,038 Ball May 28, 1907 2,500,514 Bozoti Mar. 14, 1950 2,751,162 Bolger June 19, 1956 

